On 6 July, the team behind Bao - Shing Tat Chung, Erchen Chang and Wai Ting Chung - will open the doors to Bao Noodle Shop, located on Shoreditch’s Redchurch Street.
A short distance from Shoreditch High Street station, Bao’s first ever Noodle Shop will take its cues from the beef noodle shops of Taiwan, specialising in steaming bowls of Taiwan’s much-loved national dish.
Each morning, the chefs will begin their day by preparing fresh wheat noodles, with specialty flour imported from Taiwan to give them structure and bounce. As lunch begins, guests to the considered dining room can jot down their choices on Bao Noodle Shop’s concise order forms.
To start, three new versions of Bao’s cult favourite buns will join the line-up: a panko shrimp croquette Bao with sweet and sour sauce, an Iberico pork Bao with garlic mayo, black garlic sauce and shredded cabbage and a sweetcorn congee Bao with spring onion tofu sauce and soy pickled chilli.
For dumpling lovers, there’s boiled cull yaw lamb dumplings, while elsewhere on the starters list will be crispy tripe, onion dip; eel and smacked cucumber; glazed pork chop, crispy egg; fried Ogleshield cheese rolls; and lu rou fan, a comforting dish of braised pork belly, with egg and fish floss rice.
At Bao Noodle Shop, bowlfuls of shimmering beef noodle soup will be the star of show, with two versions available. The first, a classic Taipei-style broth that closely matches the style of the beef noodle soup found across Taiwan, will be rich in flavour, with slow braised beef cheek and beef shortrib, spiced beef butter and fermented greens.
Secondly, there will be Bao’s take on a Tainan-style broth based on recipes from the southwest of the island - a much lighter broth with imported 400 day-aged white soy and thin slices of rare poached rump cap, for diners who like to drink from the bowl. Both broths will be made with aged beef bones, fermented chilli bean paste and assorted spices, and guests will have the option of adding cured egg; crispy egg; or spiced beef butter to their bowls.
All beef is sourced from Philip Warren Butchers in Cornwall and aged for a minimum of 40 days. Guests can add a side dish of noodles with curry bone marrow dip, whilst vegans will be catered for with a choice of dan dan tofu noodles, or kelp soup noodle with aubergine.
To end on a sweet note, Bao Noodle Shop will serve new BaoBing, two versions of a Taiwanese shaved ice dessert piled high with fruits and cream - visitors can take their pick from strawberry cheesecake or tiramisu flavour. Bao’s classic fried Horlicks ice cream Bao will also feature on the dessert list.
To drink, cocktails will be influenced by the refreshing shaved ice drinks of Taipei, with the menu featuring a Midori Whisky Sour Ice and a Grape Sake Ice. Alongside these will be a Calpis Fizz inspired by Calpico, the Asian yoghurt soda, as well as Bao classic cocktails like the Umeshu Negroni and Milk Tea Old Fashioned.
For soft drinks, Bao Noodle Shop will serve the original, much-loved peanut milk, alongside a range of innovative cold brew teas, including the Hong Yu and Oriental Beauty cold brew tea with a soft set almond jelly, inspired by the classic Taiwanese Dou Hua dessert, and a Hong Yu and Assam cold brew tea with lemon foam, a twist on the classic lemon ice tea.
The interiors will be as characteristic as the menu: the dining room draws influence from the tiled noodle shops of Taipei, with a white tiled bar, warm timber-clad walls, rounded opalescent wall lights and sculptural paper lampshades.
Towards the back of the dining room, tables sit beneath exposed timber beams and a large skylight floods the room with natural light, whilst behind the yellow banquettes Bao’s tongue-in-cheek wallpaper features its signature video game-style illustrations.
Diners will be able to perch at the open kitchen to watch the chefs ladling hot broth, while the entertainment rooms downstairs will feature KTV - karaoke TV - and can be booked for groups. Soups will be served in bowls handcrafted by London-based ceramicist Owen Wall.
Co-founder and creative director, Erchen Chang said, “Beef noodle is a national obsession in Taiwan with annual competitions taken very seriously over there, so we wanted to bring these comforting bowls to London and make them with the very best ingredients.
'I’m looking forward to introducing our new BaoBing desserts as well - they remind me of hot, humid days on the streets of Taipei.”